Data Drives the Rally — Tuesday’s IP Market Recap

by Marc Bastow | March 26, 2013 4:53 pm

[1]Investors shrugged off any lingering concerns over Cyprus on Tuesday and instead focused on several pieces of good news on the economy, sending U.S. stocks to a broad-based rally that saw the S&P 500 come within striking range of its October 2007 high.

The S&P Case-Shiller Index improved 8.1% in January, marking its best year-over-year gain in more than six years. The country also saw a 12% YOY improvement in new home sales, to 411,000 in February. For the same month, the Commerce Department reported a 5.7% jump in durable goods orders.

The S&P 500 finished up 0.78% to 1,563.77, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.77% at 14,559.49, and the Nasdaq gained 0.53% to finish at 3,252.48.

Two technology stocks led the Dow, with Intel (NASDAQ:INTC[2], +2.8%) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ[3], +2.3%) both up on no particular news.

Boeing (NYSE:BA[4]) shares soared ahead just more than 2% after completing its first test flight of the Dreamliner 787 since implementing a redesign of its faulty battery system.

Shares of Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX[5]) rose over 5% as analysts at Pacific Crest upped their NFLX price target from $160 to $225 per share. NFLX closed under $200.